Shelter

Renting is a waste of money. Mortgages make you pay twice as much as the home is worth, and your first several years are purely paying off the interest, but after those many years you eventually start to stop wasting money. So we’ll do that.

Buying an old house is fraught with peril. Could be a good purchase. Could be rotting and the inspectors never noticed. Could be a great price, or it could be overpriced; you won’t know until the market sinks and/or explodes.

Renting out a room is dangerous. People with limited liability could cause more damage than their money can cover. They’ll almost certainly generate wear and tear that you must fix. But renting out is how you turn a big house from a money pit into a money maker. So we’ll try to do that. At least until I can’t stand it any more.

What about a tiny home? I could afford to buy an expensive tenth of an acre near the middle of the city, if I could spend a mere $50,000 on the house itself. And it’s mobile, meaning I could relocate without selling the house. Not to mention, since the land is small and not worth much, there wouldn’t be a huge pressing need to sell the land in order to buy the next plot. Alas, city governments still aren’t sure whether tiny homes count as houses, so you may not be able to legally live in one. Unless I put it on a foundation, in which case it’s just a small house and not a tiny home.

Look at houses = Too big, expensive and needy.

Look at townhomes = Waste money on HOA every month like a renter. Still too big and expensive. Share walls with neighbors.

Look at tiny houses = Legally not a house, so I can’t live in one. They don’t resell. Neighbors will think I’m weird. Will probably need to trade in my car for a truck.

If I could either find an inexpensive house or make tiny homes legal, my problems would be solved. I’m unlikely to change laws, but an affordable house is palatable, so that’s what I’m trying to do. Townhomes are not a great deal, even at a cheap price, because of the stupid monthly HOA. $180 per month is ridiculous.

Alternatively, I could reduce my junk to nearly nothing and continue room sharing forever. The moving wouldn’t be an issue any longer, and there’s a lot to be said for a $500/month rent that includes utilities.